The Geopolitics of Alien Intervention

The Geopolitics of Alien Intervention

…Or a question of whether you feel like you’re being watched?

By Micah Hanks

If aliens were to invade planet earth, what might be their reason for doing so? Also, how might they do it, and would we be able to defend ourselves?

Admittedly, we see this scenario quite often in films, and it’s almost always the result of the same, predictable sorts of patterns we’ve watched ourselves fulfill throughout history as humans, super-imposed onto the silver screen. These involve mean-assed aliens that consider planet Earth a disease-ridden mudball crawling with parasites; we, of course, are those parasites, and the aliens arrive as intergalactic exterminators to save our otherwise lovely terrestrial landscape from its bothersome residents. Another popular one: they’ve destroyed their home planet, and now the alien squatters have arrived to establish themselves like cosmic family members going through hard times, begging to crash on the couch for just a few weeks. This seldom is really all they want (again, following stereotypical Hollywood treatment of the subject), and eventually their plans of kicking us out and moving themselves in permanently unfold. Still another scenario that incorporates the “we destroyed our home planet” motif would have the aliens arriving from afar to harvest our resources, having expended their own. Hence, again, they’ve come to run us off, grab our goods, and go… or be squatters again, depending on the film, novel, or other fictional treatment in question.

Indeed, these sorts of representations of resource depletion, colonialism, and other past scourges on humanity are rife within the science fiction portrayals of alien contact. There must indeed be a deeply-seeded fear within us—especially among academia—that if aliens and humans were ever to become acquainted, it could turn out for the worse on our end of things. This is based primarily on our observations of history, of course; we have seen time and time again the way settlers in new lands have treated indigenous cultures. Almost in every instance, those inhabiting a given locale, when encountering more advanced foreigners moving into the area, have suffered as a result of their technological shortcomings.

Then again, Cortez and his kindred were looking for conquest when they arrived in Mexico, and no doubt with interest in the kinds of riches rumored to be hidden away in the Middle Americas: namely gold. Advanced alien beings who might be capable of drawing energy from the vacuum of empty space (we’ve even got a hypothetical name for that sort of thing: it’s called zero point) may have far less interest in the kinds of Earth-based resources we could offer. One exception might be helium-3; a rare isotope that some scientists have claimed may be useful in achieving fusion. However, this element is found in its greatest concentration among the mare plains on the dark side of our Moon, rather than anywhere here on Earth.

But thinking outside the box about legitimate reasons for an alien invasion, there can tend to be some rather interesting theories that begin to arise. Take, for instance, a recent paper that deals with this subject, titled “Would contact with extraterrestrials benefit or harm humanity? A scenario analysis” by authors Seth Baum, Jacob Haqq-Misra, and Shawn Domagal-Goldman. In their thesis, a number of scenarios are examined, among them the rather unique concept that space aliens might seek to wipe out life on Earth to protect other civilizations in the cosmos. But why on Earth—or anyplace else, for that matter—would humankind be considered such a dire threat to any aliens nearby… especially since we know that “nearby” in the relative cosmic sense could mean up to dozens—if not maybe hundreds—of light years away?

One reason the authors have cited has to do with the debate over climate changes on Earth, and how these sorts of earth changes might indicate our rapid growth and expansion as a species, thus bringing potential for threat to the intergalactic economy. “A preemptive strike would be particularly likely in the early phases of our expansion because a civilization may become increasingly difficult to destroy as it continues to expand,” the paper’s authors say. “Humanity may just now be entering the period in which its rapid civilizational expansion could be detected by an ETI because our expansion is changing the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere, via greenhouse gas emissions… These scenarios give us reason to limit our growth and reduce our impact on global ecosystems.”

As politicized as the debate over climate change and anthropogenic global warming can be, there is rationale for this argument, even in the interstellar sense. The authors of the paper describe limiting our carbon footprint as a means of preemptive protection, “since atmospheric composition can be observed from other planets.” Nonetheless, despite the fact that a number of noticeable Earth-changes really are underway, many argue that there is little that can be done to change some of these, due to there being extra-planetary factors involved, just as well as those that humans may be presenting.

The recent atom-smashing exploits of the CERN project in Geneva have resulted in some interesting data pertaining to climate change, and especially what role the Sun may play in all of it. A study published in the journal Nature recently described the CERN group’s use of a large stainless steel chamber, designed to recreate Earth’s atmosphere, which demonstrates how cosmic rays contribute to the formation of molecules conducive to manifesting clouds in Earth’s atmosphere. This, in turn, also managed to highlight a direct link between temperatures here on the planet in relation to cosmic rays and solar activity in general. While casting some doubt on the entirely human-oriented explanations for rises in global temperatures over the last several decades, what this also could indicate is that reversing some observable trends regarding Earth’s climate—especially those that could advertise our presence to hostile aliens—may be out of our hands.

Then again, if such things as global warming trends are indeed the result of a complex combination of terrestrial activity and heliospheric phenomenon, then it stands to reason that other planets with a geological and biological makeup like ours, also in relative proximity to their nearest Sun like we are, would exhibit similar climate trends. Thus, maybe our carbon footprint would be less noticeable to aliens than the authors of this study have suggested. But while the forces of nature may have far more to do with climate change here on Earth than we possess the ability to control, our global economic situation, while arguably a manmade mess that really is out of control, nonetheless remains something we can manipulate and gain foothold with: provided that souring international affairs and deconstructive partisanship don’t derail any hope for progress. Arguably, if geopolitical and global economic trends continue as they have done in the last decade or so, problems associated with scarcity and troubles over finding and harnessing renewable energy and other resources could indeed become more apparent to any potential extraterrestrial civilization keeping an eye on us. As fantastic an idea as aliens intervening over our global economic woes may sound, given the circumstances it might seem at least as likely as any serious notion that they would wipe out humanity over concern about our carbon footprint. While we may not be entirely in control of what climate changes are occurring around us, humans have a direct relationship with the expense of Earth-based resources; a number of these, particularly those involving nuclear technology, are most certainly the kind that could be monitored and observed, even from someplace outside the planet.

Despite all this, for many it will likely seem like a waste of time in general to expend precious brainpower on doomsday scenarios involving space aliens. Sure, I take all this with a healthy grain of salt myself, and when it comes to the subject of UFOs, for instance, I for one try to be careful about even entertaining the idea that such craft might be the result of extraterrestrial intelligences similar to ourselves. While this remains a distinct possibility, given the variety of unknown elements the enigma presents us with, it is important that we not jump to conclusions, given the range of possibilities so far as tangible explanations behind the UFO phenomenon. Regardless of what UFOs may really be, since there is at least a potential for there actually being alien visitors from space behind the scenario, it is somewhat justifiable to consider potentials this might involve; especially those where threats to humanity might be concerned. Referencing again the aforementioned report on alien risk assessment, the authors state that, “considering the potential scenarios may help to plot the future path of human civilization, avoid collapse and achieve long-term survival.” Indeed, speculation of this sort—however strange or unsettling—should at least be afforded careful, serious thought… if only to err on the side of caution, in case one of these apocalyptic “what if” moments were ever to actually transpire.

Micah Hanks is the organizer of the Paradigm Symposium OCTOBER 17-20, 2013 at The Historic St. Paul Union Depot, St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.paradigmsymposium.com/

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I think they already invaded us. I think they figured out a way to project their consciousness onto our planet from outerspace and reproduce their culture within us through our subconscous minds. memetic parasitism, if you will.

Calypso_1

So alien parts are replaceable?

Ted Heistman

wat? A meme is a “part”?

Calypso_1

“project … consciousness””onto””reproduce”
If every element of culture, socially produced programming, etc were removed from an individual, would they still be themself?

cultures also grow well in agar.

Ted Heistman

I think memes use us to reproduce, yes. I think making your cultural programming “yours” is probably a process related to how consciously you live your life.

So I am not saying all memes are evil. If you removed all cultural programming from a person they would be mute and illiterate and probably completely solitary and isolated.

But that’s not to say being brainwashed is necessarily a desirable state either. I also think one problem is that cultural programing doesn’t always serve ones best interests. Some cultural programming seems to be designed to keep people down in order to maintain a status quo.So I think for that reason cultural programming is worth examining and not passively accepting uncritically.

But I think its quite possible that a lot of the memes of Western Civilization originated from “the gods” who may be intelligent entities which are in some sense incorporeal.

The Well Dressed Man

Memetic probiotics?

The Well Dressed Man

Read much WS Burroughs? I got the impression he suspected language itself was an alien virus that limits our perception of spacetime, and his “cutting up” of prose was an attempt to break out.

Ted Heistman

I have not, but I have read Eckhart Tolle, who believes that our constant inner chatter disconnects us from the present moment, which is where we connect with eternity.

Calypso_1

Ever listened to his tape experiments?

The Well Dressed Man

“K9 was in combat with the alien mind screens!”

Calypso_1

…strangely appropriate

http://www.ContraControl.com/ Zenc

Apparently they’re already here.

If the guy in the picture isn’t a Gray Alien Hybrid, I’m a monkey’s uncle.

Anarchy Pony

What if they just totally ignore us? Like they blatantly came into the Solar system and started mining asteroids and harvesting helium 3 and hydrogen out of the gas giants, totally unhidden, but make zero attempts to contact us (or invade us) and ignore our attempts to contact them? I’m not aware of any stories like that…

I_abide

But that would make us not special and we can’t have that.

Anarchy Pony

Fair enough.

http://www.ContraControl.com/ Zenc

There is an Arthur C. Clarke novel called Rendezvous with Rama which has alien ships just passing through the solar system (and harvesting a small amount of solar energy) without acknowledging humans.

This comment has probably been given many times over the years, but this place appears to be a prison, and when the prisoners are nearing a jailbreak they are encouraged to revolt internally, setting the “civilization” back thousands of years. The jailers are watching more carefully now as we are nearing another attempted jail break. If we don’t mess it up ourselves, they will most certainly intervene to make sure we lose the technology for a few thousand years. We are after all the most vicious, intelligent and dangerous beings in the galaxy. We are the most unmanageable and threatening outcasts and prisoners ever known. And we have a long, long, long rehabilitation before we are “civilized” enough to join our jailers out there. They didn’t know what to do with us thousands of years ago, and they don’t know what to do with us now so we are confined to the backwater planet where we won’t rock the galactic boat. Pretty nice prison though, isn’t it?

The Well Dressed Man

This is a somewhat novel perspective to me. I feel that we’re definitely the apex predator viciously and cunningly running the show on terra firma. Is there a reason you extend this description to the entire galaxy?

Jim

Yes. If you will consider the prisons in our society there are basically just a few types of prisoner: murderous with no remorse; accidentally murderous (stupid); calculating crime; lords of various illegal domains; and compulsive criminals of various less vicious crimes. This is a simplification. Now compared to a well ordered, highly stratified galactic civilization which has no place for artists (non-conformists), criminals and political rebels, perhaps you can see the similarities. Think Galileo, our current spate of government tattletales, various political prisoners around the world, you get the idea. We humans were the misfits. Killing us does no good, because it doesn’t change our basic nature to not fit in to their well-ordered society. And we do have this habit of coming back lifetime after lifetime. And we tend to remember a lot, if only in our dreams. Now, consider that we have built a space program in how many years? And our technology is accelerating. I would imagine our jailers are very nervous. The last time we got this far was in fabled (and probably to some degree actual) Atlantis and look what happened then. The time period for Atlantis was about 20,000 to 50,000 years. Plenty of time to go from bows and arrows to spaceships. And how many earlier civilizations have there been? We discover more and more, with technology, every few years. How about models of jet airplanes in South America. Who knows how old they really are? You can’t age date gold. The basic question you have is why the galaxy? And I answer that simply, for reasons I have mentioned above, Earth is actually a dumping ground. This is not a new unheard-of idea. I know of tens of thousands of people who are certain of this, as I am. There you have it.

The Well Dressed Man

Ten thousand peoples worth of certainty on this is something far outside my sphere of understanding. I’m of a mind that these are interesting grounds for speculation. I wouldn’t be especially surprised to learn that ancient civilizations possessed advanced tech, or that extraterrestrials supervise our advancement. However, I know of no supporting evidence worth mentioning. “I want to believe”

smr

Aliens are already on our shores. They have been for the last number of decades. They are gaining every-increasing influence over human life and thinking, with the ultimate goal of human allegiance and acquiescence.
This is no longer something to debate or contemplate.
It is here.
This s crucial understanding for all human beings at this time.